That might be Bill Armistead, whose risky decision to reschedule the Alabama Republican Party's primary election paid off in spades for the state on Tuesday.

Armistead, the party chairman, helped push legislation to combine the presidential and state primary elections, traditionally held on separate dates in February and June.

Combining the votes on March 13, he contended, would save up to $4 million in election costs and potentially make the state more of a player in the national election process.

"It was our belief that by hosting our primary on March 13, Alabama, for the first time ever, would have a significant role in selecting the next Republican nominee," said Armistead, a former state senator from Columbiana.

In 2008, Alabama was one of 24 states voting in the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primary, and largely was lost in the national shuffle.

This time, things were different.

Alabama carries outsized value in the GOP primary because its 50-delegate prize is unusually big for a Southern state. Alabama gained extra delegates by electing Republicans to a series of state and federal offices — ranking 11th nationally, and ahead of bigger states such as Virginia.

Neighboring Mississippi has 40 delegates, combining with Alabama in what Armistead called a "Southern Super Tuesday."

But what Armistead couldn't have foreseen was the way that the primary played out.

The GOP contest turned into an epic fight for the nomination, and Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich roared into Alabama last week aggressively hunting for votes.

They stumped across the state, pouring time and money into Tuesday's election. Internal estimates from the campaigns indicated that Romney was the biggest spender, tripling the media buys made by Gingrich and Santorum. Combined with Super PAC advertising, Romney dropped more than $1.5 million in Alabama, compared to about $500,000 apeice for Gingrich and Santorum.

Voters also had the chance for a firsthand look at those three leading candidates. Gingrich wooed Deep South voters the hardest, spending every day since the March 6 Super Tuesday vote stumping in Alabama and Mississippi, hitting all corners of the two states.

Gingrich, of neighboring Georgia, played up his Southern roots in contrast to his Northern rivals. He made sport of Romney's clumsy description of "cheesy grits," declaring that candidates who don't understand grits probably don't understand the South.

Gingrich also was the only candidate to schedule campaign events in booming Baldwin County, which some analysts speculated would account for as much as 20 percent of Tuesday's vote.

"We're relevant," Armistead said. "We thought we would accomplish that by having a stand-alone date with Mississippi, and we were right."

Armistead, who hosted a forum with Gingrich and Santorum on Monday in Birmingham, said that the top Republican contenders have gotten a lesson in the issues important to Alabama voters.

"It's a two-way conversation," he said. "We listen to what they have to say, but they also get to hear from us."

As Election Day closed on Tuesday, Armistead said that he was feeling as happy as he was relieved.

"It was a roll of the dice, but it came up good for Alabama," he said.

(Political Editor George Talbot's column runs Wednesdays. Reach him at 251-219-5623 or gtalbot@press-register.com.)